Australia’s huge untapped resources of uranium and hydrocarbons are the envy of the world. But their green tape, locked gates and death-by-delay strangles all exploration and development
Green zealots infest all parties, the media, academia, education and the business vested interests. They consistently oppose what works and promote what won’t.
Greens demand “Zero Emissions”. Nuclear and hydro power are the only practical “zero carbon” electricity options for Australia. Greens oppose both.
Australia’s huge untapped resources of uranium and hydrocarbons are the envy of the world
Greens worship “the environment”, but support widespread environmental destruction by bird-chopping windmills, land-stealing solar panels and their inevitable spider-webs of roads and transmission lines. All to produce intermittent energy that is forced onto distributers and consumers by legislated targets, taxes, subsidies and mandates.
Green policies support cutting forests in America to ship woodchips to UK for burning in the DRAX power station. Other policies support growing crops using diesel fuel for tractors, harvesters and trucks to produce bio-diesel with less net energy than they started with. Not smart.
Greens support carbon capture and storage, fully aware that this won’t happen without legislated subsidies, taxes and targets. They know that CCS will favour their wind and solar toys by multiplying costs and energy waste for coal, oil or gas generators. Big miners also love it because far more coal or gas will be needed to produce the same electricity.
Most politicians now support “green” steel and aluminium, via zero-emissions hydrogen. The hydrogen must be made by electrolysis of water or from methane. Electrolysis is not feasible without the nuclear power they oppose. And the methane route produces poisonous carbon monoxide plus more of the carbon dioxide they dread. All processes use more energy than can be generated from the products.
Australia’s huge untapped resources of uranium and hydrocarbons are the envy of the world. But their green tape, locked gates and death-by-delay strangles all exploration and development.
And Green Guru, Ross Garnaut, thinks graziers should harvest kangaroos not cattle. Let them do both.
Viv Forbes, Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition, has spent his life working in exploration, mining, farming, infrastructure, financial analysis and political commentary. He has worked for government departments, private companies and now works as a private contractor and farmer.
Viv has also been a guest writer for the Asian Wall Street Journal, Business Queensland and mining newspapers. He was awarded the “Australian Adam Smith Award for Services to the Free Society” in 1988, and has written widely on political, technical and economic subjects.
